Lipstick container



Feb. 20, 1962 w. H. HARRIS 3,021,946

LIPSTICK CONTAINER Filed Feb. 14, 1961 INVENTOR William H. Harris MW ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,021,946 LHSTHJK CONTAENER William H. Harris, Litchfield, Conn, assignor to Scovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Conn, a corporation of Connecticut Filed Feb. 14, 1961, Ser. No. sales a Claims. (Cl. 206-56) This invention relates to improvements in a lipstick container and particularly to a swivel-type container.

The recent trend in the lipstick container art has been to make the containers more ornamentalin appearance by changing'not only the shape of the shells thatjconstitute the exposed parts of the Containers, butalso to provide a surface ornamentation on said shells'which may be in the form of a varietylofjfinishes or decorative designs that will suit thewhims of the purchasing public.

that the various decorative closure caps and bases may be assembled.

Another object of this invention is to provide a difference in the frictional forces exerted by the two divided cylindrical portions with the respective members that are attached thereto. The frictional engagement between the closure cap and the cylindrical portion adjacent the container will be less than the frictional force exerted by the outermost cylindrical portion and the decorative base applied thereto, so that when the closure cap is being removed from the container, the decorative base will still retain its portion on the head member and the latter may be used to facilitate the operation of the container.

The full nature of this invention, along with other objects and various advantages thereof, will be more apparent from a consideration of the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a lipstick container embodying my invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the same;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the operating head member, per se;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the same; and

FIG. 5 is a transverse sectional view on a larger scale of the attached head shell and inner shell taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

This invention pertains to the so-called swivel type ilipstick containers with some innovations, as will be explained later, wherein the essential parts consist of an outside casing shell 10 within which is rotatably fitted an inner shell 11 which an interposed helical member 12 therebetween. The helical member 12 is frictionally carried by the outside casing shell 10 in the usual manner or may be formed as an integral part of said casing shell. Slidably operated within the inner shell 11 is a carrier cup 13 for protracting and retracting a stick of cosmetic material 14 within the container.

One of the recent changes in the art of lipstick containers is to make the inside shell from strip material by a rolling operation and attaching an operating head member thereto as a separate part. This method of making the inside shell thus produces a slit throughout the entire ice length of said shell and as shown in FIG. 2, the inside shell 11 is formed with an enlarged cylindrical end 16 providing a shoulder 17 between it and the main body of the shell 11.

Considering now the details of the operating head member 15 which consists of an upper cylindrical section 18 and a lower cylindrical section 19 having a closed base 19a. The upper and lower sections 18 and 19 are separated by a circumferentially raised head or annulus 20 of suflicient width to harmonize with the overall appearance of the finished container. In making the permanent assembly between the inside shell 11 and the head member 15', the enlarged end 16 is dimensioned to have a forced telescopic fit into the upper section 18 of said head member and is pressed into the upper section 18 to a stop position as determined by the assembly tools. In its stop position, the shoulder 17 will be disposed slightly below the upper raw edge of the upper section 18 after which said upper section may be formed or spun inwardly over said shoulder 18:: as an added anchorage means.

One of the faults inherent in the above type of inside shell construction, resulting because said inside shell 11 was slit throughout its entire length, was the possibility of the edges of the slit overlapping each other when the inside shell was pressed into the head member 15. This occurred particularly where the slit extended across the enlarged end 16 of said inside shell causing the slit ends of said enlarged section to be forced out of abutting engagement, .as shown in dotted outline in FIG. 5, so that the necessary binding engagement required by the force fit of the enlarged end 16 within the head member 15 would be lost. To overcome this fault, a pair of inwardly formed ribs 22 extending transversely from the edges of the slit 21 are formed in the enlarged end 16, one on each side of said slit. Thus, it will be obvious that any tendency of the edges of the enlarged end at the slit 21 to overlap each other will be prevented by these ribs, thus always assuring a tight fit between the inner shell 11 and the head member 15.

A closure cap 23 is provided for covering the entire length of the container and is adapted to fit over the upper section 18 of the head member 15 until its open end abuts the head 20 as a stop. The cap 23 is frictionally held in place by friction ribs 24 (3 in this instance) spaced about and formed outwardly of the upper section 18. It is to be noted that by reason of the above frictional fit between the head member 15 and the closure cap 23, the latter does not have any contact with the casing shell 10, thus placing this device in a class of free-wheeling lipstick containers.

As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the lower section 19 of the head member is formed with a series of closely arranged longitudinal reeds 26 extending the entire length of said section and conjoined with said reeds are three longitudinal ribs 27 formed outwardly of said lower section with their crest portions extending radially outwardly beyond the crest portions of said reeds for reasons as will appear later. This reeding of the head member, aside from adding to the decorative appearance of the container, serves to provide a better gripping surface to the head shell for operating the container and also provides strength to the lower section, thus giving a greater support to the longitudinal ribs for reasons as will appear.

Up to this point, it is to be noted that a complete lipstick container with cover cap has been described and can be sold as such. Now, if it is desired to further embellish the lipstick container, a decorative or ornamental base 28 may be provided and adapted to have a slip fit over the lower section of the head shell. This decorative base 28 may have any particular shape and/ or covered with artistic motifs in harmony with the closure cap or any exposed portion of the head member. The decorative base 28 is constructed to have a 'frictio'nalengagernent over the longitudinal ribs 27 of the lower section and this frictional engagement should be substantially greater than the frictional engagement betweenthe closure cap and the'ribs24 on the upper section so asto permit the closure cap to be removed Without disturbing the assembled position of the decorative cap. One of the means by which the abovedifierential friction may be obtained is by makingthe'ribs 2'7,on the lower section 19 relatively narrow inwidthand extending the full length of said lower section, while theribs 24 on the upper section 18 should be considerably wider than the ribs 27 and extend only part way'of the length of said upper section. V v 7 'It is considered thatthe invention "andinany of its attendant advantages'will be understood frotn'the foregoing'description and it will Beappafent that, various changes may be made in the form, const'ructionandarrangement'or" parts without departingfrorn thespirit'arid scope or" the invention as set" forth intlie appended cla'ir'r'is.

What I claim is:

1. A lipstick container of the swivel type comprising an exterior casing and an interior shell rotatably mounted in said casing, an operating '-head member connected to said interiorshell and located entirely' outside' of said casing, said head member being divided with upper and lower sections and an intermediate circumferential raised lan'nulus therebet'ween, the 'upper and lower sections each having a plurali'ty'of elongated ribs arranged longitudinal of and equally positioned about said sections, an elongated cover'cap ofsufiicient length to slip over "the exterior casing and be frictionally received on the "ribs of said upper section, and an ornamental base telescopically fitted over the lowersection and having frictional engagement upon the ribs-of said lower sectiolnthe fric- 't'ional engagement between the ornamental base and the 4 ribs of the lower section being sufficiently greater than the frictional "engagement between"the'ribs oftheupper section and the cover cap tojpermit the latter to be Withdrawn without disturbing the telescopic frictional fit of said ornamental base on said lower section.

2. A lipstick container as defined in claim 1 wherein the lower section of the operating head member is formed with a series of strengthening longitudinal reeds, and the height of said longitudinal ribs onsaid lower section is greater than the height of said reeds.

3. A lipstick container as defined in *claim 1 wherein the ribs on the upper section of said head member extend only part way of the length of saidupper section and said'ribs on"sa id' lower-section extend the full length the "'ribs"on the lower section.

'5, A ;lipstietee ntaine of the "swivel "type comprising an eittenorca'sinfg', a' spiral element carried by said casing,

an; nr sneu; rotatably'mounted; in said spiral element, a'carrie'r eupfslidably mounted in said'casing, said ShelPhavin'gan enlarged endjpo'rtion below said casing and'spiral el ment, said shell having'a longitudinal-slot 't'o accommodatethe operating pin on said carrier cup and a slit extending from said slot across said enlarged portionfanoperatinghead member having a reduced 'neekportionfitted on said enlarged, portion with a drive ifit,'and inwardly formed ribs on said enlarged portion extending f'rqrnfithga' slit,t her e being at least one such rib Oneachsideo 'said'slit'tor the purpose'of preventing theedg'esfof enlarged portion atjthe slit'from overlapping eachbttierdu to the confining pressure of; said enlarged portion in said reduced neck portion.

"No references; cited. 

